Herbert von Karajan began conducting operas at the age of 21, and continued doing so throughout the rest of his long and prestigious career. A great admirer of Richard Strauss’s music, Karajan’s interpretation of Rosenkavalier demonstrates reveals his great familiarity with the work as well as hinting at the pleasure he took in conducting the work. His creative team, including Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Kurt Moll, Agnes Baltsa, Gottfried Hornik, Janet Perry, and Heinz Zednik, remains to this day one of the most spectacular solo distributions the work has ever enjoyed. Legendary for his rigorous approach to rehearsing and performing, the maestro took on the roles of artistic director, music director, and even became involved in certain aspects of filming.
Don Carlo
Based on Schiller’s play of the same name, Don Carlo is Verdi’s most ambitious work, written for the Paris Opéra in 1865–66 in the tradition of a French grand opera. This legendary production from the Salzburg Easter Festival is directed by Herbert von Karajan. With its extraordinary vocal cast, the wonderful set design and costumes it is truly one of the most memorable opera performances.
Verdi: Messa da Requiem
The history of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem’s interpretation is inextricably bound up with the name of Herbert von Karajan. He conducted the work on countless occasions and in this legendary concert he performed it with some of the greatest singers of that time: Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Agnès Baltsa, José Carreras, and José van Dam. Verdi wrote his Messa da Requiem in 1873/74, between Aida and Otello, for Alessandro Manzoni, a poet whom he much admired. Verdi’s Mass for the Dead is not intended for liturgical use but for the concert hall. In addition to its profound spirituality, this masterpiece brings together the finest qualities from Verdi’s operas: endless melodic lines and captivating musico-dramatic effects.
Bruckner, Te Deum
Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) completed his Te Deum in 1883. It is perhaps his most “modern” work, with its ostinato technique, sharply delineated sound groups and primeval rhythmic power pointing ahead to the 20th century. In this 1978 production with the Vienna Philharmonic and chorus of the Wiener Singverein under Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989), the work unfolds its full majesty particularly thanks to the great soloists Anna Tomowa- Sintow, Agnes Baltsa, David Rendall and José van Dam. And, of course, to Herbert von Karajan, one of Bruckner’s most congenial interpreters. Karajan embodied classical music in the general consciousness as an epoch- making conductor, media star, opera producer, festival director and festival founder. But in spite of his Promethean and widely varied activities, he remained a superb conductor, with a grasp of the standard orchestral and operatic repertory from Mozart to Schoenberg that was unsurpassed among his peers.
Mahler, Symphony No.8 in E flat major “Symphony of a Thousand”
Leonard Bernstein conducted the work at the Salzburg Festival in 1975 and shortly thereafter in Vienna’s Konzerthaus, where it was recorded. The stage of the Konzerthaus was enlarged to make room for the unusually large orchestra, the two choruses, the children’s choir and the soloists. Bernstein was the first conductor ever to record all of Mahler’s symphonies not only on disk, but also on video. The Mahler cycle was the first project in the more than 20-year-long association between Leonard Bernstein and Unitel. The leading Mahler interpreter of our time, Bernstein recorded all of Mahler’s symphonies between 1971 and 1985, chiefly with the Vienna Philharmonic, producing a unique musical document and triggering a major reappreciation of Mahler’s works. “All Mahler symphonies, all Mahler works for that matter, deal in extremes, extremes of dynamic, of tempo, of emotional meaning. When it is bare, it’s extremely bare, when it is thick and rich, it’s thicker and richer than anything in ‘Götterdämmerung’, and when it is suffering it suffers to a point that no music has ever suffered before.” (Leonard Bernstein)
Beethoven, Symphony No.9 in D minor, op.125
Recorded live at the Berlin “Philharmonie” on New Year’s Eve 1977, this rousing interpretation of Beethoven’s most popular symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan weaves a rich tapestry of emotional contrasts. The Ninth is an affirmation of optimism and beauty, written when Beethoven was almost completely deaf. The final movement is considered by many to be the composer’s crowning glory. It had been Beethoven’s lifelong dream to set Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” to music, for the poem put into words Beethoven’s most impassioned desire: peace and brotherhood in the world. Giving eloquent voice to this plea are the world-renowned soloists Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Agnes Baltsa, René Kollo and José van Dam.
Berlin Opera Night 2007
OPERA NIGHT 2007 for the German AIDS Foundation live from the Deutsche OperBerlin with world-renowned artists presented by Max Raabe PROGRAM: 1. Overture (from: L‘ITALIANA IN ALGERI) / 2. La calunnia è un venticello (from: IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA) / 3. Sempre libera (from: LA TRAVIATA) / 4. Pourquoi me réveiller (from: WERTHER) / 5. Nemico della patria (from: ANDREA CHENIER) / 6. La mamma morta (from: ANDREA CHENIER) / 7. O Fortuna (from: CARMINA BURANA) / 8. Fortuna plango vulnera (from: CARMINA BURANA) / 9. O mio babbino caro (from: GIANNI SCHICCHI) / 10. Cruda sorte (from: L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI) / 11. Una furtiva lagrima (from: L’ELISIR D’AMORE) / 12. Si mi chiamano Mimì (from: LA BOHÈME) / 13. Ah! Non credea mirarti … Ah! non giunge (from: LA SONNAMBULA) / 14. Lippen schweigen (from: DIE LUSTIGE WITWE) / 15. Freunde, das Leben ist lebenswert! (from: GIUDITTA) / 16. Dein ist mein ganzes Herz (from: DAS LAND DES LÄCHELNS)
Messa da Requiem
Herbert von Karajan recorded Verdi’s Requiem multiple times over the course of his career, such that it became one of the signature works of his repertoire. In this film, he brings together an exceptional group of some of the late 20th century’s greatest singers: Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Agnès Baltsa, José Carreras, and José van Dam. Composed between Aida and Otello, the Messa da Requiem is dedicated to his friend, the poet Alessandro Manzoni, who had participated in the Italian unification movement, the Risorgimento. The technically and artistically challenging work was described by Verdi’s contemporary, the conductor Hans von Bülow, as an “opera in ecclesiastical garb”, an interesting expression of the fascinating tension between the theatrical and the religious in this monumental chef-d’oeuvre.
Don Carlo
Considered one of Verdi’s most challenging works, Don Carlos gets the royal treatment in this production at the Salzburg Festival directed by Herbert von Karajan. Verdi’s opera demands soloists of incredible technical ability who are also capable of communicating their character’s struggles with exceptional expressiveness. Inspired by Schiller’s eponymous historical tragedy, Don Carlos explores the conflicts between 16th-century European society and the heavy-handed political influence of the Catholic Church, as well as the roles of liberty and religion in the life of modern man.